• The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been held every year since 1924 (except for a two-year interruption during World War II when the helium and rubber used in the balloons was donated to the war effort).
• The first Macy’s parade featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Inflatable characters came on the scene in 1926.
• The parade was televised nationally for the first time in 1947. When you watch it on TV this year, you’ll be watching a crowd of about three million people lining the parade route.

(Source: Guinness Book of World Records and Macy’s)